The Man He Used To Be
by Leesy Metallium
Summary: For a few glorious seconds Jack though he'd found the Doctor and Rose. No cigar, but as a consolation prize there is a rather goodlooking blonde man in a cricketing outfit who is making some rather unbelievable claims.
1. Chapter 1

Captain Jack Harkness stared his ship's console, ticking and glowing before him, a look of amazement etched in his features.

"It's a match…" He said quietly, before doubling back as quick as lightning and checking his instruments again. "It's a match!" he whooped and punched the air, grinning madly. "I've finally found them!"

Trying to find the TARDIS and its residents in all of time and space had turned out to be like playing an intergalactic version of whack-a-mole. Jack had only been searching for two months, and twice already had he picked up the TARDIS' signature time and spatial distortion, only to have it suddenly disappear before he had even gotten close. He had made the decision to stick close to Earth, as he knew it was somewhere that the Doctor frequented. Upon hacking into several classified earth records, the Captain had discovered an abundance of information on the mystery Time Lord dated to the nineteen seventies in England. It was because of this that he had been hanging around that time and area in the hope that the TARDIS would turn up and he'd be able to return to the people he had begun to think of as his crew.

_London, England, Earth: December 12, 1976. Some time around the vicinity of, but not quite, getting on to tea time._

The Doctor pressed a few buttons on the TARDIS' console and smiled apologetically as the ship groaned.

"Sorry girl, I'm just stopping off for a bit. I'll be back before you even notice."

The TARDIS made a forgiving sort of sigh, and the Doctor smiled, pulled the door lever up, grabbed his hat and coat, and strolled out the door.

Outside, a sleek, heavily modified and recently commandeered Conglurian time-tourist ship landed invisibly and silently. A young and dashing male head stuck itself up out of the top and smiled widely upon catching sight of a blue police box standing very nearby in the London alley. Captain Jack hoisted himself out and landed smoothly on the concrete, hastening towards the TARDIS. He silently feared that it would dematerialise just as he reached it, as it had done on the Game Station.

He bounded towards the blue box and, upon reaching out to push the door open, realised that it had suddenly been opened from the inside. Out stepped a young and rather ingenuous man with blonde hair. Jack noted with mild interest that he wore a beige Victorian cricketing outfit, but this was quickly brushed aside as he smiled and noted some other things. The man stared at him in slight surprise.

"Hello there." he said amiably, oblivious to Jack's appreciative gaze. There was a moment of silence. "Would you like something?" he added.

"I've been replaced already, have I?" Jack suddenly laughed. "I _would_ complain, but I don't think that I could with someone like you as my substitute."

"I beg your pardon?" the Doctor's forehead furrowed in confusion.

"Captain Jack Harkness, though you've probably already been told about me." Jack extended his hand and gave the blonde man a hearty handshake.

"Oh…uh, yes." The Doctor returned the grip and smiled good-naturedly, if also slightly concernedly. "I'm the uhh…I'm sorry, but am I supposed to know who you are?"

"Not yet, but you will soon. I'm sure we'll get to know each other very well." Jack grinned. "Moving on to only slightly more pressing matters. Is the Doctor or Rose in there?"

"I'm not sure about who this Rose person is, but the Doctor isn't in there. He's out here."

"Out here? Where?" Jack cast his gaze up and down the alley. The Doctor gave Jack a rather concerned look.

"He's right here." He said uncertainly. Jack turned to stare at him in puzzlement. "I'm the Doctor." he clarified with an affable smile, which faltered slightly when Jack's gaze became ten times more baffled. "You _are_ looking for me…aren't you?" Jack continued to stare.

"I'm not…exactly sure…" the Captain frowned and rubbed his forehead. "There can't be more than one 'the Doctor', can there?"

"As far as I know I'm the only one using that handle. Unless…" the Doctor looked up intently. "What does the Doctor you know look like?" Jack frowned pensively.

"He has dark close-cropped hair, almost military. Big nose, bigger ears, though not unattractive at all. He also has beautiful blue eyes, wears black with a leather jacket, has two hearts and travels around in a TARDIS that looks just like this one."

"That's definitely me, but no…" the Doctor frowned. "No, I haven't been him yet. Dare say I would remember such an unpleasant sounding regeneration. Though I'm presuming he's my future. A not too close future if I have any luck."

"What?" was all that Jack could say.

"I assume that this future me hasn't told you about regeneration?"

"Regeneration?" Jack gave a blank stare. The Doctor smiled understandingly and turned back to the TARDIS.

"Listen, you had better come inside. This may take a bit of explaining."


	2. Chapter 2

"So when Time Lord's die, they don't die. They…grow a new body." Jack asked, one eyebrow raised suspiciously at the blonde and youthful Time Lord.

"Something like that, yes." The Doctor confirmed.

"And the Doctor that I know used to be you."

"Unless he's an impostor or I'm an impostor, yes." The Doctor smiled at the alarmed look Jack gave him. "Don't worry, I'm not an impostor."

"How do I know that? You're nothing like him," Jack took a moment to look around at the stark white console room, "and this is nothing like the TARDIS!"

"With each regeneration my personality changes slightly. As for this old girl," he patted the console appreciatively. "I sometimes get the urge to redecorate her." Jack looked concernedly around and fretfully ran his fingers through his hair.

"Let's just suppose for the moment that I do accept that you're the Doctor…and I'm not saying that I do!" he clarified with a glare. "But if I did…would you be able to get me back to my Doctor?" The Doctor met Jacks gaze before sighing and leaning against the console.

"Well it would involve bending a fair few Laws of Time," He paused for a moment before giving Jack an assured smile. "but none that I haven't completely broken in the past. We'll just be careful, shall we?" he concluded and started up the time rotor.

"Thanks Doc." Jack said, feeling slightly more at ease.

"So you believe I'm me now, do you?" the Doctor said with a mildly amused look.

"Well it doesn't seem like I have much of a choice. And anyway, it isn't like there are any other good looking Timelords traipsing around the universe." Jack gave the Doctor an affectionate slap on the back. The Doctor was rather taken aback by this breech of personal space and made his way to the other side of the console, switching switches and pressing buttons.

"Well there are a few others, but generally they aren't the sort you'd want to casually run in to." the Doctor frowned while poking a small screen. "Then again, neither are the ones on Gallifrey…bunch of stuffy shirts…"

Jack gave the Doctor a look of sudden alarm. It had just occurred to him that this Doctor must be one from a point in time before the Time War that destroyed his people and his planet.

Part of him realised that it probably wasn't right to probe this part of the Time Lord's history. Another part of him was intolerably curious. He would never dare ask his Doctor about Gallifrey, but this one…

"So, you never really told me. Why _did_ you leave Gallifrey?" Jack asked innocuously, leaning on the console while making sure he didn't hit any switches accidentally.

The Doctor looked up and gave the ex-Time Agent a mildly surprised look. "What brings that question on?"

"It's just that you seem to not like the place very much." Jack grinned casually as the Doctor gave a small chuckle.

"Whatever would give you that idea?" After a long pause, Jack persisted.

"Well go on; don't hold me in suspense like this!"

"What?" the Doctor muttered distractedly, still staring at the console screen.

"Why did you leave Gallifrey?"

"Oh well, you know how it is…thousands of years of politics make a planet very stagnant and hypocritical. I could hardly stay there…" the Doctor seemed to be only half paying attention to the conversation.

"So you just took your TARDIS and left one day?"

"Something like that. Only the TARDIS wasn't really mine as such…"

"You stole it?" Jack gave the Doctor an amazed look. He knew that the Time Lord was a bit of a law unto himself, but he wouldn't pin him as an out right lawbreaker.

"Well, in my defence she was on the scrap heap…no one would have missed her. I was also very young; barely into my third century. Listen, does all this really matter? I need some information before I can find your me."

"Sorry, of course. What do you need to know?" Jack said, coming around to the Doctor's side of the console and staring over his shoulder at the screen.

"Well, for starters was there any time or place that I visited regularly? It would make it a lot easier to search if I can start somewhere." Jack stepped back from the console and his face clouded in thought. After a few moments, he replied.

"I'm not sure if it was by choice or coincidence, but you seemed to end up in Cardiff more than the average Time Travelling alien would." The Doctor gave Jack a rather surprised look before shrugging it off.

"All right, that's somewhere to start I suppose."


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor finally stopped adjusting a small dial under the screen and stood back with a satisfied smile to survey his work. "There we go! We should have a response in the next few minutes." Jack's eyes followed the tracker ticking over and let out a sigh.

"Thanks, you have no idea how much this means. I tried doing something similar, but the technology I had just wasn't doing the job."

"Oh, it's nothing really. Anything for a future friend and all that."

"Yeah, about that…how do you know that I am who I say I am? You have your fair share of enemies. How can you be sure that I'm not just popping in here for an old fashioned shoot out in the TARDIS?" Jack asked. The Doctor simply gave a small smile and a shrug.

"The TARDIS seemed to know you. That's enough for me."

"You're very trusting." Jack couldn't help but think that his Doctor probably wouldn't have had such confidence. Probably with due cause.

"I suppose I am, aren't I? Oh, Turlough! Good morning! We have a visitor." the Doctor addressed someone over Jack's shoulder. The ex-Time Agent turned around and was met with the bleary-eyed and slightly shocked expression of a young man with red hair in the uniform of an English private school. In a snap he was in front of the newcomer with arm extended.

"Captain Jack Harkness. And you are?"

"Vislor Turlough…" Turlough responded, returning the handshake uncertainly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Vislor. May I call you that?"

"Err…"

"Jack is here because he lost a future me that he was travelling with. I'm assisting him with his return." The Doctor supplied helpfully.

"Right…" Turlough eyed Jack distrustfully before addressing the Doctor. "Should I go and get Tegan?" The Time Lord seemed to consider this for a moment, glancing between Jack and Turlough, before smiling apologetically.

"Maybe that wouldn't be the best thing to do. You know how she can get with…"

"People?" Turlough finished dryly.

"Yes, well…maybe it'd just be best to let her skip this little rendezvous. After all, it won't take long."

"Tegan?" Jack asked with interest.

"None of your business." Turlough shot, giving the ex-Time Agent a thoroughly distrustful look.

"Sorry, I guess you just want me all to yourself." Jack gave Turlough a suggestive grin. Turlough responded by looking mildly ill and the Doctor was forced to suppress a chuckle.

"Even if he is from your future, he shouldn't be allowed here." Turlough frowned, circling away from Jack towards the Doctor. "Doesn't this break some of the fundamental laws of time travel?"

"You see, that is one of the problems with having a TARDIS. There are strict rules governing the prevention of timeline crossing, but it always seems to happen anyway. Well, always seems to happen to me at least." The Doctor shrugged helplessly. "Anyway, he seems to know better than to give anything about my future away. Don't you, Captain Jack Harkness?" he said, giving the ex-Time Agent a wide smile.

Jack nodded. "Of course."

"But we don't know anything about him!" Turlough argued.

"Rubbish. We know that he trusts me enough to get him back where he belongs, and I'm not about to let him down." The Doctor said with calm finality.

There was such an air of innocence about this incarnation of the Doctor. But at the same time…

"Something the matter?" the Doctor asked Jack, his expression concerned. Jack almost laughed at the realisation.

"I only just met you and I've let you take me away to god knows where in a second." He shook his head in disbelief and ran a hand distractedly through his hair. "You seem so different from my Doctor, but you really must be just the same."

The Doctor cocked his head to the side. "You know, there would probably be times when I'd fight that accusation, but now is not one of them. I'll make sure your trust is not misplaced."

A loud beep interrupted him. "And there we go! I've tracked the movements of a TARDIS of identical registration to my own. It's moments away from landing in Cardiff, Wales, Earth: August 14, 2007. Does that sound right?"

Jack dashed over to look at monitors. After a few moments a wide grin spread across his face. "Seems right, but there's only one way to find out."

"Off we go then!" The Doctor leaned across the console and pulled a lever as the TARDIS dematerialised with a groan that was music to Jack's ears.


End file.
